THE SPACE ROOM

Everything Sci-Fi & a Little Astronomy

 

by Anna Sanclement

 

 

Calling All Harry Potter Fans

 

Ok, so Harry Potter may be more fantasy than sci-fi, but with all of its broom flying, spell casting and strange creatures, it sure has enough for a sci-fi feel!

 

This month brings us the sixth installment to the Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The movie has been highly anticipated, especially since it was supposed to open last November and got postponed for this summer.

 

By the looks of the trailers, though, it was definitely worth the wait. The effects look absolutely amazing; the cave scene is just fantastic as are the broom flying sequences. The classic Potter humor is still there, especially when it comes to all the awkward moments between Ron and Hermione. Another great scene from the book is when Ron is given some chocolates laced with a love potion and it looks like the movie version won’t disappoint. Rupert Grint, who plays Ronald Weasley, plays the part wonderfully and the scene with the chocolates is no exception.

 

Half Blood Prince finds our Hogwarts friends back at school again, after a previous hard fifth year where Harry lost his godfather, Sirius Black, by the hand of the evil Death Eater, Bellatrix Lestrange. Ironically, she was Harry’s godfather’s cousin.  Sixth Year at Hogwart’s seems to go smoother and with less incidents than the year before. At first, anyway!

 

There’s a new teacher who is quite peculiar and who surprisingly takes over the Potions class. This means that the previous professor and Harry’s least favorite, Severous Snape, is now teaching another class – Defense Against the Dark Arts – a subject Harry thinks Snape is too dark to teach himself.  With Harry’s unwanted connection to the Dark Lord Voldemort (Harry’s lifelong enemy) having been severed, he is able to enjoy the school year by being less anxious and angry.

 

However, he still thinks something is off with his nemesis student, Draco Malfoy, who is acting very strangely all year. His friends won’t listen to him and think he’s imagining things.

 

In the meantime, Dumbledore, Hogwarts’ beloved Headmaster, wants Harry to learn all he can about the Dark Lord Voldemort, so he can be prepared when the time comes to face him, which he inevitably will someday soon. So it’s towards the end of the school year that we start to see what has been brewing all year long.

 

Our beloved main characters are all back for Half Blood Prince, as well as a few new ones such as Horace Slughorn, the new Potions teacher. And although not new to the books, some characters will be shown in the movie version for the first time, these include Narcissa Malfoy, Draco’s mother, and Lavender Brown, Ron’s–sort of–new girlfriend.

So mark your calendars for July the 15^th, get your Hogwarts uniforms out of the closet, plan a big, scrumptious Hogwarts feast and then head for the theater to watch Harry Potter and his friends in their next exciting adventure!

 

For more information on the movie and characters check out the film’s official website:

http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthehalf-bloodprince/#/home

 

Sky events this month, July 2009:

Full Moon will be on the 7^th and the New Moon will occur on the 21^st. There is also a penumbral lunar eclipse at 5:00 a.m. on the 7^th, but it will hardly be visible, if at all, since the magnitude is only going to be 0.156. Earth is at Aphelion on the 4^th, which means that Earth is at its farthest point from the Sun. The reason why it is hotter in the northern hemisphere during this time, even if farther from the sun, is because of the Earth’s tilt. During the summer months the way the Earth leans puts the northern hemisphere at a more direct angle to the sun, thus making it hotter.

 

Then on the 21^st there’s a solar eclipse, which will extend across India, China, some Japanese islands and the South Pacific Ocean. 

Venus and Mars continue to be seen in the early morning skies, while Saturn is low in the sky in the evenings. Jupiter is starting to rise earlier at night and stays visible until the morning.

 

Space Shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to lift off July 11^th at 7:39 p.m. after 2 scrubbed attempts in June. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the July attempt will be a successful one for the 16-day ISS mission. Once the Shuttle launches you can follow the mission on NASA TV .

 

Sky events for August 2009:

Full Moon will be on the 5^th, the New Moon on the 20^th.  Jupiter continues to be visible all night, with the 14^th being a great night to observe it since it will be at opposition. Saturn is visible low in the evening sky and sets about 90 minutes after the sun does, as is Mercury for the first few days of the month.

 

On the 1^st of the month the Alpha Capricornids Meteor Shower peaks and on the 6^th the Southern Iota Aquarids Meteor Shower peaks. Also on the 6^th there’s another penumbral lunar eclipse that won’t be very noticeable.

The Perseid Meteor Shower peaks on the 12^th and the Northern Iota Aquarids Meteor Shower peaks on the 25^th.

 

On the 24^th Mercury is at its greatest eastern elongation.

Some of the main constellations that we can see during August are: Scorpious,  Sagitarious (the Teapot), Ursa Major (the Big Dipper),  Ursa Minor (the Little Dipper), Bootes, Corona Borealis and Draco.

 

Look on up and smile!

 

For more sky events log on to: www.astronomy.com and http://space.about.com/od/computerresources/tp/2009MaySkyGuide.htm

 

 

You can read other articles and tips by Anna on these websites:

 

http://baby.lifetips.com/

http://www.helium.com/users/484623

http://www.examiner.com/x-6503-Ft-Lauderdale-Science-News-Examiner

http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/354312/anna_sanclement.html

http://www.suite101.com/profile.cfm/annasanclement